KARACHI, Aug 16: The two-week tennis activity gets into action when the pre-qualifying round (boys) of the first leg of ITF juniors U-18 ranking tennis tournament begins at the Karachi Club courts on Friday at 9.00am.

Top four are set to join 28 players in the two-day qualifying rounds which commence on Aug 18.

The qualifying round will form the basis of selection of top eight for the main draw of 32-man which kicks off on Aug 20.

A number of upcoming players have arrived in the city for the event which is taking place here after three years.

According to tournament director, Khalid Rehmani, players from neighboring India have got visas and are due to arrive here on Saturday.

Following withdrawal of a German player, the number of entries for the girls’ events has been reduced to 23. There will be no qualifiers for the womenfolk and all of them have entered the main round. These include seven from home and 14 from India besides one each from South Africa, and Spain.